Contents

It's ever been a loaded word among vampires. Jyhad is in force everywhere from lofty, perfumed Elysium to cloying, smoke-filled blood feasts. Jyhad's the eternal game played by elders, Methuselahs, and worse — it's the agenda of beings so utterly beyond humanity, one such as yourself could scarcely understand its movements.

Luckily for you, you've picked up a copy of my diary. With my help you may just take a step on the first rung of understanding. Information worth having is information you must earn through blood, and oh, how I've bled for what's contained within these pages.

Beckett's Jyhad Diary serves as the definitive book of setting and plot for Vampire: The Masquerade, containing 30 chapters spanning different geographical regions, encountering vampires of every clan, profiling obscure and profound segments of the mythology, and providing countless story hooks on every page.

Carna's trail heads west, leading Beckett to the Anarch Free States and the brewing conflict between rebels of a hundred agendas. He attempts to make sense of the passions in play, while fists and violent words fly.

Following a brutal attack on a Sabbat gathering, Lucita enlists Beckett in discovering the culprit, who appears to be one of the Black Hand – the militant arm of the Sabbat. A name is whispered among the survivors – Dastur Anosh, the first Seraph of the Hand. But what the Gangrel discovers goes deeper, into the Antediluvian roots of the Lost Tribe and the mystic spiritualism underpinning the very philosophy of the Sword of Caine.

Hesha Ruhadze's ambitions overreach his grasp, as he comes into the possession of a truly dangerous Kindred artifact and living piece of a mysterious Methuselah. Beckett seeks to understand the artifact and save the Setite, before a terrible event comes to pass.

Beckett's journey east takes him to Russia in search of Baba Yaga tales, and answers to the mystery surrounding the Shadow Curtain in place for so long. Obfuscation abounds, as the Nosferatu's very existence comes into question.

Beckett returns to Mexico City and alongside Okulos explores an underground temple once claimed by the members of House Goratrix. The devastating revelations he uncovers bring him to the attention of the vicious Karl Schrekt, and a vampire of a Clan long thought destroyed.

Ecaterina, Christof, and Beckett travel to Tunis upon hearing tell of the fallen Brujah Antediluvian's resting place beneath a dam in the capital. Infernal cultists and agents of the True Black Hand greet the three with violence as they near the founder's location.

His possession of Hesha's artifact grows increasingly dangerous, leading Beckett to make an offering to its former owner in India. The Ravnos divide as our Gangrel's actions force a split in the Clan of Deceivers.

Beckett seeks to discover the truth behind ClanGiovanni's diablerist origins, unknowingly unleashing the vengeful spectre of an immensely powerful Cainite. His journey takes him from the Swiss Alps to Claudius Giovanni's manse in Transylvania.

Just after his discovery of the remnants of House Goratrix, Beckett follows up on a lead to the heart of Transylvania, tracking down the last few elders of the Salubri bloodline. But the intrepid archaeologist finds more than he bargained for in the shadow of Hunedoara Castle and the collection of Inconnu it hosts.

Berlin bears many mysteries, including the apparent location of the Book of the Grave-War, the whereabouts of "Caine", and Beckett's own childe. Sadly for Beckett, it also contains vampires after his blood.

Beckett seeks out the remainder of the subjugated Cappadocian Clan in Egypt. Via the vampire Angelique, he discovers the secrets of their survival, and a broader, healthier Clan than he realized existed, its members working towards the long death of their enemies, and maybe even civilization itself.

Amidst the chaos of the Jyhad, Beckett resolves to solve the one mystery he is avoided facing: that of his own siring, and the circumstances. After all, if so many others are pawns of their antecedents, how else can he rule on his own objectivity?

Certain vampires generate their own myths and legends, and for a time the "Kindred" Rasputin was a suspected root of easily a hundred plots across Europe. And then one night he promptly disappeared along with his cult and any evidence of his existence. Beckett and Vykos seek the truth behind the legend, discovering his trail leads to South America and the Drowned Legacies spoken of by Baron Samedi.

Beckett's abilities are truly put to the test, as he and Okulos stumble into a party of legendary Outcasts, powerful ghouls, and forbidden bloodlines; a coterie of Alastors leads him to the schemes of Kemintiri's Red List Cabal; the True Black Hand attempt to silence both he and Serenna the White over their activities in Jerusalem; notable Children of the Revolution make their plans known; the Anarchs make a major play for new territory in new domains; Lucita introduces our archaeologist to the dreaded Castel d'Ombro; and finally, Beckett encounters a vampire claiming with authority to know every player of the Jyhad, and how to stop each of their plans.

Despite claiming that the events of this volume officially conclude in 2005, several events detailed within, such as the appearance of the Justicars appointed in 2011, make this a chronological impossibility. Author Matthew Dawkins stated that they had to apply some flexibility, and that the events detailed are not strictly linear chronologically.[1]

The book follows its own internal metaplot that assumes several things happened/did not yet happen